| Author | (Michaux) H. Ohba | |
| Distribution | Present over most of the Mountains, but seemingly absent in the southwestern counties, with no records yet west of Haywood and Transylvania counties. Ranges into the western third of the Piedmont, mainly on monadnocks and outlier ranges.
This is mainly a species of the central and southern Appalachians, ranging from southern PA south to western NC, and with a few disjunctions farther west. Apparently not known from TN or GA.
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| Abundance | Fairly common, at least locally, in the northern and central Mountains; uncommon in the southern portions, but absent from the far southwestern counties. Uncommon and local on western Piedmont monadnocks. | |
| Habitat | This species grows only on rocks -- specifically in thin soils in crevices and cracks in rocks. Most populations are in dry and exposed sites, at middle and high elevations, typically on acidic soil. However, at Piedmont sites it ranges well below 2000 feet in elevation. |
| Phenology | Blooms from July to September, and fruits from August to October. | |
| Identification | This is an odd yet conspicuous species when and where found. It is herbaceous and grows to about 1 foot tall, with a very fleshy and glaucous appearance, pale whitish-green in overall color. The very thick leaves are alternate, obovate in shape, about 1.5-2 inches long and 1 inch wide, with wavy to slightly toothed margins. At the top of the stem are the several densely-packed rounded/domed flower clusters. The 5 petals are pale pink to flesh in color; each flower is about 1/3-inch wide, with the flower cluster being 2-3 inches broad overall. This native species cannot be confused with other native ones but could possibly be confused with a few exotic species. Those grow in disturbed or weedy places; one has rose to purple flowers (H. telephium), and the other (H. erythrostictum) has greenish-white flowers and mostly opposite leaves. | |
| Taxonomic Comments | This species was until recently placed in the large genus Sedum, as S. telephioides.
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| Other Common Name(s) | Allegheny Live-forever | |
| State Rank | S4 [S3S4] | |
| Global Rank | G4 | |
| State Status | | |
| US Status | | |
| USACE-agcp | | |
| USACE-emp | | |
